Nikolay Petrov is a professor and head of the Laboratory of Methodology of Regional Development Evaluation at the Higher School of Economics, Moscow. For many years, he was scholar-in-residence at the Carnegie Moscow Center, where he directed the Society and Regions project. He also heads the Center for Political-Geographic Research. Petrov is a columnist for the information agency RBC (RosBusinessConsulting), a member of the Program on New Approaches to Research and Security in Eurasia (PONARS Eurasia), a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.